26. Chapter 26 #2
"Sure, I have some candles." I stocked up after the power outage.
Now my cupboard is stacked with all kinds of candles, from tea lights to twenty-hour candles, from unscented, to pumpkin spice and vanilla because the scent reminds me of Erik.
I get a bunch of them from my cupboard. Kieran lights them as I trudge over to the doorway to turn off the light.
"Okay." He rubs his hands together excitedly, grinning wider than a child on Christmas morning.
The candles cast a flickering orange light over my living room, stark contrasting shadows on the walls. Raindrops hit my window hard, and the wind has picked up, making nature around my house howl and whistle.
"I swear to God, Kieran, you couldn't have picked a worse day." I grimace and sit down at the coffee table in front of my couch, opposite him. The setting alone is enough to make the hair in my neck stand up.
"Come on, it's spooky season. You should be glad I didn’t wait until Halloween for this." He takes the Ouija board out of its packaging and sets it in the middle of my coffee table, and the wooden planchette right in the center. I eye it as if it’s poisonous.
"Did you research this at all?" I ask, glancing around uncomfortably. "Is there anything we need to do to keep, I don't know, bad ghosts and demons out? I once saw this thing about a salt circle..."
I'm already getting back up to grab a pack from my kitchen when he stops me by grabbing my wrist.
"I did. But if we put a salt circle around us, wouldn’t it be impenetrable for good ghosts too?"
I freeze. His logic isn’t wrong. Still, it feels weird to… not prepare anything. Had he warned me I would have made a little church trip to grab some holy water. I could have sent my mom a selfie and told her I was there to repent. Maybe she’d lay off her rants for a while.
With an uncomfortable knot in my stomach, I sit back down.
"Here." He pulls out a little water gun and places it in the middle of the table.
"What is this?” I pick it up and turn it in my hands. “Do we shoot bad ghosts with it, like they’re cats trying to steal food? Playing Russian roulette with a water gun?"
"It's holy water," Kieran explains as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “We shoot the ghosts if they’re evil.”
"How reassuring." I put it down very carefully. Don’t spill a drop of it Kylie, you might need it. “So, we’re doing this?”
Everything inside me screams how bad of an idea this is. However, I can’t deny I’m curious and ultimately, my curiosity wins.
"We’re doing this. Give me your hands." He takes my wrist and places my index and middle fingers on the planchette, waits for me to do the same with my other hand, then places his on the other side. “Okay.”
A solemn blanket lies over us. I barely dare to breathe. Abby and Dick don’t care at all, but it’s reassuring to have them close.
Rolling his shoulders, Kieran takes a deep breath with his eyes closed. When he opens them again, he moves the planchette over the board in circles. Then he speaks.
“We are here in peace and with respectful curiosity. Only positive energies are invited into this space. No demons or harmful entities permitted.” He takes another deep breath and stops the planchette right in the center of the board.
“That being said, hi! Is anyone here? Do you want to talk with us?”
I admire Kieran. He's talking into nothingness as if it were the most natural thing in the world, like a regular conversation. It makes me feel super awkward to sit here and wait for an answer which may or may not come. If he’s feeling similarly, he doesn’t show it.
"I'm Kieran. This is Kylie, as I’m sure you know, and we come in peace. First off, please be nice. We just want to have a little chat. If there is a friendly"—he emphasizes the word—"ghost here, would you please announce yourself by moving this planchette?"
Silence settles.
Abby and Dick are still asleep by the window. Meanwhile Kieran and I wait, staring at the little planchette as if our gazes alone could make it move.
"Are you sure—"
"Kylie, shush." Kieran cuts me off with a sharp glare. "Give her some time. It's probably strenuous to move it at all."
"Okay." I let out a sigh and try to relax my arms despite the awkward angle they’re at. I’m too small to properly reach on the table with my butt on the ground.
Suddenly, the wooden piece moves, only a fraction, but enough to make me panic. Oh my God. It’s actually happening.
I suck in a sharp breath, willing my fingers to stop trembling and the blood to stop hissing in my ears.
One millimeter turns into two. Millimeter by millimeter, it moves towards YES.
My heart beats in my throat, and my blood runs ice-cold as I gape at Kieran with wide eyes. He stares right back, mirroring my shock.
"Oh my God," I whisper, forcing myself to remain seated when all I want to do is jump up and bolt the hell out of here. This is getting way too real for my taste.
"Okay." Kieran rolls his shoulders and clears his throat. "What's your name?"
We wait again. The silence stretches until the planchette moves over the NO.
"No? You don't want to tell us your name?" Slowly, it moves back over to YES. "But why?" We wait for it to move again, but this time to no avail.
"Okay, okay,” Kieran gives in and purses his lips. Then his eyes twinkle with an idea. “What's your favorite season?"
Smart. Instead of downright asking for her name, he wants to confirm Bobby’s story. This time it doesn't take nearly as long until the planchette moves.
F. A. L. L.
He shoots me a look that screams I-knew-it. Suddenly, the dogs jump up and walk over to us, but their body language is not hostile. No, they tilt their heads and sniff the air curiously. So the ghost isn’t giving off bad energy. What a relief.
"Were you born here?" I ask in a shaky whisper, earning an approving nod from Kieran. More questions I can ask without making it obvious we have a hunch who she is race through my mind.
Slowly but surely, the planchette moves towards NO.
Kieran and I exchange a look. She’s not from here. Neither were the O’Briens. My eyes widen. Heart racing in my chest.
“Are you Elizabeth?" It slips out before I can stop it. All of a sudden, one of the candles flickers.
Only one. Right in the middle.
Impossible for a draft to cause it. They’re so close, a draft would make all of them flicker, not one of seven. Not a chance.
“Kieran? I’m scared," I mumble and stare at it as if it might attack me the moment I avert my eyes. My heart is beating so fast and so hard I'm afraid I'll have a heart attack. Which would be one way to get confirmation who this ghost is, I guess, however I’m kind of attached to my life here.
All of a sudden, the planchette moves again.
B.
I.
“Huh?” I watch the letters appear in the planchette hole. "Is she trying to spell O'Brien? Or telling us to end the conversation?" However, it keeps moving between only those two letters.
Kieran stares at the board, white as if he just literally saw a ghost.
T. E. L. L. T. H. E. M.
“Huh? Tell who what?”
"Hey, Elizabeth." His voice is shaky all of a sudden. "It was lovely chatting with you, but maybe it's time we leave you to it. Have a nice evening, and don't haunt either of us, okay? Sorry for disturbing you. Bye."
He pulls his fingers back from the planchette as if he got an electrical shock from it. So do I.
The exact moment my fingers leave it, the candle stops flickering. However, Abby and Dick are not only curious anymore. They’re alert, staring at nothing on the other side of the table intently.
Kieran and I shoot each other a wide-eyed look.
"Slumber party at Lauren's?" Kieran proposes. Immediately, I jump up and flick on the lights.
"Yes. No offense but getting out of here is the best idea you had all evening."
There's no hesitation on my side, as I reach for Abby's leash. Sensing my panic, she comes right up to me.
I am so not sleeping here, much less alone, tonight, now that the ghost is confirmed. At least now we know it’s Elizabeth, but we still have no confirmation she’s actually Svetty.
"Let’s get out of here." Kieran clips Dick's leash on, and off we are to hang out with our other friendly neighbor.